'orchardist' originates from English, specifically from the word 'orchard' combined with the suffix '-ist'. 'Orchard' derives from Old English 'orceard' (sometimes recorded as 'ortgeard'), where 'or/ort' meant 'ploughed' or 'cultivated' and 'geard' meant 'enclosure' or 'yard'; the suffix '-ist' ultimately comes via Latin/French from Greek '-ιστής', meaning 'one who practices or is concerned with'.

'orchardist' developed by adding the agent suffix '-ist' to the noun 'orchard'. 'Orchard' changed from Old English 'orceard'/'ortgeard' to Middle English forms like 'orchard'/'orcherd' and eventually to modern English 'orchard', after which the Modern English agent-form 'orchardist' arose to denote a person working in or managing an orchard.

Initially, the Old English term meant 'a cultivated enclosure or garden'; over time 'orchard' narrowed to mean 'a plantation of fruit trees', and 'orchardist' came to mean specifically 'a person who tends or manages such a plantation'.